Stock road bike to Superbike race contender in two weeks? We knew it'd be a challenge, but what a buzz!
When I collected the K7 GSXR1000 from WBP Racing team owners Martin and Steve two weeks ago, we alredy had a schedule planned out and everybody knew their part to play. Jamie at South City Autopainters was tee'd up for painting the race fairings, Cannon Signage Concepts were already hard at work on a stunning graphic layout, Robert Taylor had taken time out of his already overloaded schedule to supply and fit the Ohlins components and the dyno time was booked for fitting the race exhaust and tuning the bike. All I had to do was bolt it all tgether. Simple!
Everybody involved played their part and and worked well above the call of duty to ensure their parts were completed well before the tight deadlines asked of them, with the exception of being let down by the exhaust supplier. This was a major blow as apart from not being able to tune the bike as we'd have liked to, the race bellypan is not designed to fit over the unattractive, 5kg lump of catalytic converter slung under the bike. Once again Jamie stepped in and very carefully modified the the painted and sign written fairing parts to fit around the stock exhaust system, great man to know that one. Jason from Motostyle was on hand, fitting the PP crash protectors and braided lines while Ben actually made himself usefull, shut his trap for a change and laboured over the custom seat pad. We completed the bike at midnight Wednesday night, ready to travel to Feilding Thursday, ready to test Friday. Bear in mind, at this stage, other than a brief 50 meters between Jamies and my place, I've not ridden this machine yet.
The trip down after work Thursday was uneventfull, unless you count the Honda Prelude 20 meters down a bank, headlights still on, idling away an event and we arrived at the motel around 10pm, absolutely shattered but excited about the following days test.
I awoke to the sound of rain on the roof Friday morning and began instantly worrying wether or not it was worth even using the test day. We headed down to the track and set up in the stables/pits along with the other brave souls and stood around watching the rain. Sue and Glen shot off into town to get the wets borrowed off Eddie fitted to the wheels while I stayed with the bike to ensure no one covered it with grubby finger prints and field a few questions like "Who are you and where did this bike come from?"
True to his word, Robert Taylor arrived soon after and set about getting his trailer set up ready to start work. Steve from Easy Start Rental Management had also arrived and there was a steady stream of onlookers wandering past to see the bike and it's stunning rider. I mean stunning bike ...... Without wasting any time, Robert set up the sags for me and I took off for my very first ride on wets, on a bike I'd never riden before, in the rain. Good times! I was under instruction from all involved to just do some laps, and get a feel for the bike, "take it easy" so to speak. So I did. For a couple of lapsGetting quicker and quicker every lap I couldn't believe how much grip the Dunlop wets offered, especially at full lean. Within three laps I was dragging my right knee and giggling like a schoolboy. Something I wasn't enjoying too much was the bars flapping violently out of both Higgens and the sweeper and for half of the following straights. It never gets worse but it feels like it's going to chuck you right off the top of the bike. Not fun. However, Robert is a methodical expert and worked hard throughout the day on both the front and rear ends of the bike to make it as stable as possible for me without compromising the grip and turn in I was liking. The stock "speed sensitive" steering damper was also lobbed in the nearest bin in favour of a shiny new Ohlins unit. I believe the Jury's in, and the stocker sucks.
How does the bike feel to ride? Well powerwise, it's a far different machine from my old K3 and the K5-6s I've ridden. I never would have thought cutting the bottom end and midange punch of a bike could make it more rideable but this thing just feels sooooo manageable. It's also bloody fast. By the end of the day, we'd shaved around 6 seconds off our first session times to be running around mid 1:18s on a wet track. Everyone, none the least me, was smiling ear to ear. A very good day with some BIG steps forward. After a nice team dinner it was off for an early night despite Poos best efforts including cries of "C'mon you poofters, let's go get a crate of piss!"
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Originally Posted by mr me
brilliant
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